Last Breath
by ANBU Inu
Summary: Based on the quote at the end of the one-shot. Technically SasuSaku, but not really.


It was his last stand. There was only him, and the strongest opponent. His body was soaked with sweat, and blood. At only some of it was his own. He could feel prying eyes on his back and knew that Sakura was watching from the shadows. She had always been so annoying. But at the moment all he could possibly concentrate on was the man in front of him. He was a brute of a man, but surprisingly agile, almost more so than him. But not quite that fast fortunately, Sasuke smirked as he ran at the man. They engaged in hand to hand fighting, seeing as both of them had expended much of their chakra previously throughout the long bloody fight that was occurring. All of Team Hebi had died through the course of this battle. But he didn't take it to heart too much. They, although useful, were definitely expendable. And they had taken down a good number of their enemies down with them.

Truth be told, he never did find out why Sakura was there. It was like she could somehow read his mind, and chances were that once he was done, who would go after her and kill her, to shut her mouth. But, he noticed as a kunai sliced his arm, he had to keep his mind on the battle before him.

They were both slowing down, but the man's brute strength was quickly showing its predominance over Sasuke's speed. But he couldn't lose now, not after all that had happened. He ever so briefly considered asking Sakura for help, she had once been willing to even betray her own Hokage for him before. But he could never allow himself to fall as low as ask her assistance. It was something he couldn't even comprehend why he would think such a thing. He noticed out of the corner of his eyes that she was moving progressively closer. He still chose to pay no mind to it. He was quickly running out of energy though. His muscles begged for him to stop, and his mind was pleading the same. But he couldn't stop.

Though he could never admit it, he was somewhat relieved when he joined the fight, he was surprised at the amount of power that was emitted from her small body. But he saw it, in her eyes and her movements, he wasn't the little girl from long ago. This woman was a killer, she knew how to kill, but regretted each one.

She glanced at him, seeking approval as long ago. But caught herself, and glared. He couldn't believe it. How could she being glaring at him, while helping him? It was simply not understandable to him. Not to mention the fact that she was beginning to overpower the huge man. She missed him and her fist hit the ground, causing the ground to crumble at her touch. His eyes widened, and were he not an Uchiha, his draw probably would have dropped into the floor. But the second time, she didn't miss, and she smiled with cruel satisfaction as the man exploded, blood and bone fragments scattering. He now had proof of his notion. He collapsed to his knees, exhausted. She began to move towards him, her hands glowing as she prepared to heal.

But she was the first to notice the reinforcements. There were so many, and she charged straight into battle with the brutes, to protect of all people, himself. He never would have guessed that Sakura would be protecting him, as he found that his muscles had promptly decided to stop working. But he realized, with horror, that there was no way she could beat them. Despite the fact that she was killing someone every few seconds, there just seemed to be more and more. He watched as she began to tire, but they were coming slower now, too. And, to his surprise, she began to prevail, he watched as she began to move faster, until, she was done. All her attackers dead at her feet. She dropped to her knees, panting as she realized what she had just done. She once again looked at him, a slight smile gracing her blood-soaked features. He felt one almost creep onto his face, but he pressed it deep within. She began to walk towards him, but then everything just happened too fast for him to see without his Sharingan activated. One second she was staring at him, horror gracing her face, then she was sprinting towards, then… he heard the most horrible noise he could ever face, as she was suddenly over him. He knew the noise. The noise of kunai hitting flesh, and he realized as blood dripped down on him, that they had hit her. He couldn't understand, even as she rolled off him, her breathing labored. Then, it hit him. His Sharingan flicked on, as he threw a kunai on the ground near him at the one who had hit her. It landed with deadly accuracy. And the assailant collapsed to the ground. But then he turned back to Sakura. She was bleeding heavily, and seemed to be blacking out. She smiled at him, then stared at the ground as she began to tug the kunai out of her back. He could hear each one come out far too clearly. There were nine total lodged in various parts of her. And he knew with a deadly surety she was going to die.

He couldn't believe it. This was simply uncomprehendable. Her killing people, that was something that could happen. But her dying, it was simply something his mind couldn't understand. Then, he realized, she had taken the hit for him. She had protected him so much more. He watched in horror as she even coughed up blood. She turned to him with a smile once more.

"Heh, guess I won't make it." She noted ruefully as he moved towards her.

"No…"

She coughed again, as she sat up, leaning towards him. She placed her hand on a particularly nasty wound of his, and he watched as it began to heal. He grabbed her.

"Heal yourself."

"Ha, there's no chance for me." She noted.

"HEAL YOURSELF!" he shouted.

"Sasuke, you're crying." She smiled at him.

"Sakura…" he could feel the tears now.

"For me, that's nice…" she smiled at the sky now. "Who would've thought?"

"You should have let me die."

"And deal with the guilt of that for the rest of my li…" she was interrupted by another coughing fit.

"Don't die…" he pleaded, taking her hands.

"Sasuke…" her breath was raspy now, her hands trembling, as tears came up in her own eyes.

"Don't speak, I'll save you so…"

"I…" she took a breath love……" she took a deep raspy breath in, "…you." She smiled one last time, but he realized with horror, that she had taken her last breath. She grew limp in his hand, and his eyes widened. He began to shake her, and try to wake her up. But it was to no avail, and he knew she was dead.

His eyes widened, as he banged on the ground.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

-

If I had to choose between loving you and breathing, I would use my last breath to say "I love you."

-

Wow, that was so horrible, but I'm still gonna post it. This really long drabble was something on my mind for a while, almost ever since I read the quote above. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever, but really depressing at the same time, so, despite the fact that it was pretty much a fail, I hope you can tell me how to improve. And that it hopefully wasn't totally not worth your time.


End file.
